Know what else is creepy?

Square

Marionettes that’s freakin’ what! And marionette mime-clowns are just this side of mind-blowingly scary. Usually.

That said this piece, with a marionette discovering his attached puppet master and casting off his strings thereby essentially choosing the freedom of “death”, is brilliant and sad. French puppeteer Philippe Genty, member of the Paul Daniel’s magic show, performs the piece.

Okay I changed my mind. They are not creepy. They are heartbreaking. Or maybe I am just a pushover. What say you?

Less tragic? That’s what I thought at first. But then I was thinking that if he *wasn’t* the puppet – if the decisive will, and the ability to carry it out, was always in his hands – then it’s even MORE tragic that the fool pulled his strings and threw away a life he’d been happy exploring!

Just because he’d convinced himself some greater power was in control.

True. Thinking of it as less tragic may be shortsighted. But at least his last act was one of what not only was free will, but that he also perceived as free will. In that moment we was truly free both body and mind.

So yes the tragedy is still there. The missed opportunity for a life well lived. But his last act made him truly free and so perhaps less tragic.